Merrickis a great rnner but has not yet hit the height of Zuber. Granter, he is a year younger so he may surpass him. But until he does, nobody knows. Zuber barely lost Heartland to a guy who qualified for NXN. Had Zuber run a similar effort at NXR, he would have hit sub 14:40.
Hard sell considering A 15:01 to 15:31 same day same conditions and a 6 second overall pr 15:01 to 15:07 and No way Zuber is anywhere close to hitting sub 14:40. Hopefully he can next season as top 3 from this year will be back
Zuber ran 187 at state and 188 at Rimrock. Merrick was 186 at NXR. A normal day for Zuber would have been sub 15. Those are the basic facts, not opinions. He ends the season ranked higher than Merrick.
Zuber ran 187 at state and 188 at Rimrock. Merrick was 186 at NXR. A normal day for Zuber would have been sub 15. Those are the basic facts, not opinions. He ends the season ranked higher than Merrick.
And exactly how did your speed rating scenario work at nxr? Facts not opinions
What is your question? Centro won an Olympic Gold beating a bunch of guys who had faster PRs.
Zuber had the faster PR, and Merrick beat him. I think we should be looking at the fact that both Grady Lenn (WI) and Jaden Merrick (IA) both crushed Robert and Manny's times from last year. This has to indicate the type of talent they have. There is no way both of them are not under 14:40 next year. Both have good coaches, who know what they are doing. Going to be exciting to see what both can do next year, considering they are the 4th and 5th returners. I see Zuber getting left behind in the dust. He is already a junior, and has the junior development. He is not going to drop as much time as I predict the two sophomores will. Look at Natneal Kifle for an example, 15:02 PR last year, and only ran a best of around 15:10 this year. Junior to senior year is hard for kids to pickup. Granted, Zuber has a good coach, so anything is possible. If I had to predict the top 5 along with times for next year, in very good weather, like 2023 NXR HL, here is my predictions.
1. Manny Putz - 14:27
2. Robert Mechura - 14:27
3. Juan Gonzalez - 14:29
4. Grady Lenn - 14:31
5. Jaden Merrick - 14:32
Again, that being in good weather. As an avid track fan, I am excited to see what the two sophomores will do. I am not so sure we might not see a sub 4 this year. Both of them were around 4:10-4:14, and the jumps they made during XC season might translate to the track. Who knows.
Merrick ran a 186 at NXR. Zuber ran 188 at Rimrock and 187 at state. Like I said, Centro won gold over a bunch of guys who were better than him. Heidesch had many bad races during his HS career. That didn't immediately make him worse than the guys who beat him. Zuber ended the season with a higher speed rating and higher ranking than Merrick. Merrick is years ahead of Zuber in training. It is impossible to predict which one ends up faster.
Speed ratings aren't worth much. All it is, is judging ones performance on that certain day. You are going off of the highest speed rating Zuber put up vs. Merrick put up. The speed rating Merrick put up was in a deep field, Zuber's was a 1v1 fight. Use the speed ratings where they were he and Merrick head to head. Marshalltown? The same. State? Close. NXR? Not close, Merrick destroyed him there. These two are very close. What leads you to believe Merrick's training is years ahead? Zuber has done XLR8 for quite some time, as he was seen wearing that jersey at NXR last year. What makes you think Merrick's training is ahead then?
Why are all these people yapping about these Zuber and Merrick even though the couldn't qual for nxn. I heard they are sophomores but who cares Robert Mechura is a Junior lol.
Merrick holds some of those crazy world records like Grace Ping. He developed some fans who will never let it go sort of like some people holding out for a Ping resurgence.
Wichita Trinity would have autoqualified for NXN if they had a 5th man. Good job to them for finishing in the top 10 though
If they had a 5th man faster than SPASH or Wayzatas 5th. In other words, if they had the FASTEST 5th man in the field. Both of the auto qualifiers were better through 4, let alone 5. Nonetheless, an impressive result for such a small school.
Actually, Wichita Trinity was going to have a 5th man (W Ferguson, ran a 16:18 last year), and the team looked in a good position to steal an NXN-qualifying spot, but he was injured this season, so this threw a wrench in the plan. If they qualified, this would have allowed Jack Witte to qualify (since Shively got an individual spot). Witte took 9th in this meet last year, 6th this year, and goes to the same school that Seth Hirsch went to.
What are the chances that Jack Witte gets an at-large individually?
Seems about right, with a few more regionals next two weekends they should get pushed back a little bit. They did all beat the 5th ranked runner in the country and break the course record by 7 seconds.
By Keenan Gray of DyeStatIndividual Boys Top 30 Rankings1 (1) Daniel Simmons, senior, American Fork UT2 (2) Drew Griffith, senior, Butler PA3 (3) Byron Grevious, senior, Phillips Exeter Academy NH4 (4) Patrick Koon, senior, L...
Mechura, Putz, and Gonzalez have the 4th, 5th and 6th fastest speed rating in the country
I believe these are accurate. Last year Heidesch, Birnbaum and Brecker placed 5th, 6th and 7th at NXN and these guys all ran about the same time factoring in weather.
great warp to a season of xc and filming meets. hard course to film on because so flat its hard to show depth but still glad i could throw something together...
